Some of the trees I had to take down were hit with pine beetle. A little beetle about the size of a thimble, shiny black with iridescent streaks the reflected colors of a oily rainbow on a puddle. Called pine or bark beetles they have gorged themselves on the Douglas firs.
They have killed many up the box canyon and toward the Southwest of me. I can see where they have wiped out a hillside of Forest Service planted clones. Yes, clones and BLM USFS have been planting them for tens of years. Generally about 20 percent survive after planting. So much for clones.

After dropping one of these unfortunate trees and splitting the wood up you can see where the devils have done their work. Their larve burrowing about eating the tree to death.
Makes the wood somewhat punky to burn and burn it we must or the larve will survive. The woodpeckers used to kill them but the BLM and USFS spraying manged to destroy their population. And so it goes.

Loggers clearcut, weaken the forest and the beetles come. Now the forests are getting so poor and absent of old growth, the multinational corps are finding them worthless for "harvesting", well at least for now.
There is a lesson I learned or maybe it is like the sound of a distant storm coming.

It is something about us regular folks, the people corporate gangs consider the consumer and where we live "the Plantation"
Something about us being "Harvested"
Something about the "harvesting" of us causing a great weakness until we are not worth exploiting.

Maybe it is just something I ate..Something I bought that was manufactured instead of cooked with love and humor. Maybe I am just a naughty monkey in a tree waiting to be "harvested".
Bon Appetit!

Somewhere our Indian Summer is somewhere else. Maybe back East since the Northwest is entertaining Jack Frost.
Snow, frost warnings and drizzling cold rain are signature of our Wintry friend.
Meanwhile it is time to dig around the closet for the wool sweater, the hooded sweatshirt, and the rest of the gear that keeps one warm.
Seems like the Vine Maple just got it's color and the Elk are making there way down from the high country.
Looking outside in the wet there stands more wood to be split and stacked.
Maybe Jack Frost will take a few days off before he lays his snowy hand on us.

"As the Dragon finished eating the family in a little home, it belched and turned to the angry crowd surrounding it with torches and pitch forks. It belched again, spit out a shoe and said.
"It's not my fault! I am not bad. Yes, I made a mistake eating this family, but they were poor and suffering, really you could say I did them a favor! After all I am powerful and your enemies will fear me, you need me, so you can consider this little problem of mine to be tolerable for all the services I provide."

The obese dragon passed gas, so wretched it killed several of the villagers.
"Oh!" he said, noticing the villagers getting angry
"They were too close to me, it's not my fault. They know I am a dragon and I have a problem I am working on. Just be patient with me."

Most of the villagers agreed, it was their neighbors fault and the dragon was not that bad.
The other villagers left the dragon, made stronger homes, self sufficient community groups, and educated themselves.

After a time the rest of the villagers were eaten or died from poisons excreted by the dragon.

The organized villagers were careful to let the Dragon, no matter how much it roared, boasted and threatened, to slowly starve to death.

No matter how the Corporate Dragon roars, just don't buy it; it'll starve to death. And as the Dragon dies, the parasites that live in and on it will scurry franticly around for another Dragon to inhabit. Let the dragon slayers follow the parasites and let the dragons only be the stuff of stories told to the young.

No matter what happens in our lives, Evil will always lose.
Like corruption, Evil is an empty vessel broken, a thirst never quenched, anger never resolved. Evil is the absence of love, grace and compassion.
When Evil wins it is due to our blindness, our mistaken notion that it wins.
Evil is gluttony of a tortured soul.
Evil is always there but we can work around it.
How to we deal with it? When we see someone lost in Evil we can thank them for showing us what we don't want to do, and remind us of how easy we can fall.
Living in grace ls letting every breathe we take be a prayer for our compassion and understanding. Let every exhale be our commitment to living in grace.
Don't believe it....Live it.
So easy to say and, yet!

Looking down on the moon.
The reflection on water. Light, reflected, dancing in our eyes.
Stars on the water.
Light from stars, galaxies long since passed. Light in our eyes from centuries passed and we harvest it with just a glance or regard.
Reflections in the evening of time. In the moon pool of our mind. Reflections that capture in a moment, an instant of transient experience, the essence of life.
In our mind, the crucible, our Soul may be nurtured. Manna for the Spirit and comfort for the wandering heart.
The moon pool of others is where we may see the reflection of something deeper, something much closer to our silent truth.
Or not.